Literary analysis of the symposium by plato

Yet it is not immediately attainable. The symposium comes to an end when a large drunken group shows up. When they are done eating, Eryximachus takes the suggestion made by Phaedrus, that they should all make a speech in praise of Eros, the god of love and desire.

Hamilton remarks that Plato takes care to portray Alcibiades and Socrates and their relationship in a way that makes it clear that Socrates had not been a bad influence on Alcibiades.

A year after the events of the Symposium, his political enemies would drive him to flee Athens under fear of being sentenced to death for sacrilege and turn traitor to the Spartans.

From a philosophical standpoint, the Symposium is also far from bankrupt. The first distinction he makes is between the cities that clearly establish what is and what is not admitted, and those that are not so explicitly clear, like Athens.

Diotima distinguished fertility of mind and body. Love itself is not wise or beautiful, but is the desire for those things. It is love of knowledge. Aristophanes tells a fantastical, mythological story about how humans were at one time twice the people that they are now, but this was seen as threatening to the gods, so Zeus cut everyone in half.

There is also some discussion as to exactly what is being discussed in the Symposium. Pausanias[ edit ] A fresco taken from the north wall of the Tomb of the Diver from PaestumItaly, c. Apollodorus was not himself at the banquet, but he heard the story from Aristodemus, a man who was there.

With dialogue, Socrates is renowned for his dialectic, which is his ability to ask questions that encourage others to think deeply about what they care about, and articulate their ideas.

Love is the possession of a good thing because it makes them happy. Also, some things are neither ugly nor beautiful, as is the case of Love.

First Eryximachus starts out by claiming that love affects everything in the universe, including plants and animals, believing that once love is attained it should be protected [23].

The Symposium The Symposium is one of the foundational documents of Western culture and arguably the most profound analysis and celebration of love in the history of philosophy. In effect, both speakers aim to impress Agathon in a contest involving sexual as well as oratorical one-upmanship.

But everyone, regretting the original unity, looking for his half and wanted to join: For the ancient Greeks, love was considered to be a god. In addressing the subject of love, Socrates takes an approach that was typical of the way that he handled many other subjects. Socrates now proceeds to an account of Love allegedly taught him by a woman of wisdom, Diotima of Mantineia.

That contest provides the basic structure on which the Symposium is modeled as a kind of sequel: Love and understands that the beauty of this body is found in others, it is also love of beautiful bodies in the plural.

Although devoid of philosophical content, the speech Plato puts in the mouth of Agathon is a beautifully formal one, and Agathon contributes to the Platonic love theory with the idea that the object of love is beauty. Then he turned to what makes the beauty of these souls know.

Agathon speech begins a: Alcibiades speech begins e:From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes The Symposium Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.

Plato's Symposium is a dialogue that uses a comic setting of a dinner party to introduce a serious discussion of the question of love.

It first should be noted that the prototypical model of love. Plato and Symposium Summary.

Uploaded by Dennise Layague. Related Interests. Symposium (Plato) Plato; SYMPOSIUM. Dates related to Plato’s life: BC: Plato born in Athens to a prominent political family. • Literary and religious texts seldom lay out the argument in plain sight. Analysis of Plato Symposium: free Education sample to help you write excellent academic papers for high school, college, and university.

Check out our professional examples to inspire at bsaconcordia.com A summary of Overall Analysis and Themes in Plato's The Symposium. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Symposium and what it means.

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The Symposium is one of the foundational documents of Western culture and arguably the most profound analysis and celebration of love in the history of bsaconcordia.com is also the most lavishly literary of Plato's dialogues--a virtuoso prose performance in which the author, like a playful maestro, shows off an entire repertoire of characters, ideas, contrasting viewpoints, and iridescent styles.